Subway commuters relying on a large parking lot to dump their cars before heading downtown on the TTC will soon need to find alternative parking accommodations.

The TTC has announced that it will permanently shutter its main Wilson Station parking lot effective Monday, November 18, 2024.

The sprawling surface parking lot at 50 Wilson Heights Boulevard — linked by a tunnel across Allen Road to Wilson Station on the TTC's Line 1 subway — is being redeveloped into a large-scale residential housing development as part of the City of Toronto's Housing Now Initiative.

Wilson Station's ample but soon-to-be-extinct parking is a relic of an almost two-decade span where the station served as a terminus.

Wilson Station opened on January 28, 1978, as the new terminus of the "Spadina subway" extension of the "University subway," from St. George to Wilson.

The then-renamed Yonge–University–Spadina line was extended another stop to Downsview (since renamed Sheppard West) on March 31, 1996, and again even further north to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre on December 17, 2017.

Almost a half-century since Wilson Station opened, its importance as a feeder station for park-and-ride commuters has declined due to subway expansion, leaving the City-owned property ripe for development with urgently needed housing.

City-led real estate agency CreateTO is working with private developers Tridel, Greenwin, and KingSett Capital on a new housing complex for the site that would add six buildings ranging in height from 10 to 17 storeys, containing a mix of condominiums, market-rate rentals, and affordable rentals.

CreateTO

And it looks like the project team is wasting no time getting things going, with plans to shutter the lot before the Monday morning rush.

A notice has been posted to parking meters in the lot, where drivers are encountering the graphic included below.

TTC

Motorists looking for alternate parking are advised to use the nearby Wilson Transit Road Lot with parking for 72 cars, or alternative commuter parking lots further north on the line.

These include  Sheppard West (632 parking spaces), Pioneer Village (1881 parking spaces), Finch West (347 parking spaces), and Highway 407 (550 parking spaces) stations.

The closure will predominantly impact drivers, but foot traffic will also be impacted.

According to the TTC, "The existing north and east pedestrian access between Wilson Heights Boulevard and the station will be closed during construction," to be replaced with new pedestrian access once the project is complete.

Pedestrians are advised to access the station from Wilson Avenue or other access points during construction.